CHANGES IN FRESH WATER FISH FAUNA IN NORTHERN WESTERN GHATS, PUNE, INDIA.

Neelesh Dahanukar¹, Rupesh Raut², Mukul Mahabaleshwarkar³* and Sanjay Kharat⁴

1. 1104 / B, Shivajinagar, Shashi Apts., Model Colony, Pune - 411 016.
2. 136, Budhwar peth, Pune - 411 002.
3. 24 E / 15, Pashchimanagari Housing Society, Kothrud, Pune - 411 029.
4. Lecturer, Department of Zoology, Abasaheb Garware College, Pune - 411 004.
* Research And Action in Natural Wealth Administration (RANWA), C - 26/1, Ketan Heights, Kothrud, Pune - 411029, Maharashtra, India.
 e-Mail : ranwa@pn3.vsnl.net.in

Key words - Local extinction, decline, new records.

The present study deals with the changing status of the fish fauna of Mula - Mutha river systems passing through Pune city.

Rivers all over the world have supported the growth of human civilization since the first town appeared some 7000 years ago (Meybeck, 1996), but as a result of this growth and the diversification of activities, most of the world's rivers have been affected. Mula - Mutha rivers, originating in the Northern Western Ghats of India, are no exception. Collection was made with the help of local fishermen and the tribal people at various locations. The specimens were preserved in 5 % formalin. Identification of the fishes was done with the help of literature (Day, 1878; Menon, 1987;Talwar and Jhingran, 1992; Jayaram, 1991) 

We reported 67 fish species in the survey carried out during 1999 - 2000. Prior to the study, earlier surveys were made by Fraser (1942), Suter (1944), Tonapi and Mulherkar (1963) and Ghate and Wagh (personal communication). Till date 108 fish species have been recorded from Mula - Mutha rivers. Out of 108 fish species recorded so far, 16 species have become locally extinct while 8 species are declining in their population.

There seems to be increasing trend of local migration of fishes from impact zone to wild zone as evident from the site of collection. The probable driving forces, for these changes include increase in pollution, heavy harvesting, construction of dams across the rivers and introduction of exotic fish species. Four species viz. Cirrhinus cirrhosus, Danio malabaricus, Rasbora labiosa and Xiphophorous hellerii, have been recorded for the first time. 

Four consecutive studies were compared to estimate the changes, which took place in the species composition of these River systems. Accordingly the frequency of record of each fish species was noted from 1+ to 4+ (Table 1). 

The study area was divided into two zones as wild zone and impact zone based on increasing human interference. The comparison between previous studies (Table 2) depicts that there is local migration from impact zone to wild zone.

Mula and Mutha Rivers, being highly polluted due to industrial wastes and sewage, are giving foul odor due to anaerobic degradation in the area of confluence. However, the river segment outside the city area, especially in the upstream parts, seems to be unpolluted. Pollution seems to be one of the probable causes of decline in species number in the impact zone (Table 2). 

There is drastic decrease in the number of species found only in impact zone while the species found only in wild zone have increased in number. (Table 2). Besides pollution, heavy harvest, construction of dams and introduction of exotic fishes are likel  to be responsible for such changes. 

Table 1: Frequency record of species and their status

Table 2: Distribution of fish species in impact zone and wild zone as evident from the three studies.

Acknowledgement :- 

Authors are thankful to Dr. Hemant Ghate and Dr C. P. Shaji for their valuable suggestions and confirmation of identification. Utkarsh Ghate and Dr. Milind Watve encouraged and helped in manuscript preparation. Authors are also thankful to authorities of Department of Zoology, Abasaheb Garware College, for providing infrastructure facilities. 

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GHATE, H.V., WAGH, G. K. 1992, PROC. FIRST NATIONAL SYMP. ON ENVIRON. HYDRAULICS, CWPRS, PUNE. 

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